Metroid: Blood Mission
by Demi10Pinoy
Summary: When she intercepts a distress call from a distant planet, Samus assembles a crew to investigate it. On their way home, however, things start to go wrong in the worst ways possible. [violence warning]
1. 1

_Captain's Log, Day 17_

 _A couple of weeks ago, I received a distress signal from the planet PM-18C. Knowing of the possible danger, I recruited multiple assets to accompany me on this trip. The planet's geography nearly parallels that of SR388. I only hope that this new planet_ _doesn't bring back the horrid memories.  
_

 _On this trip, I have six others to aid me: an Italian plumber, a Princess, the King of Dreamland, the Mother of Lumas, a Boxer, and a Prince. Though their experience in intergalactic travel and investigations is limited, they are an able crew._

 _When we arrived in the PM-10 system, I noticed that there were two stars with close to ten planets orbiting both. All of them are tidal-locked except for PM-18C. Hopefully, this is the only surprise on this mission._

* * *

After the gunship landed on the rocky terrain, Samus left the cockpit of her ship and turned left. She put her helmet on and walked towards the main hold. There, around a dark blue table, sat her main crew members: Mario, Peach, King Dedede, Rosalina, and Little Mac. When Samus entered the room, the others did not move and kept talking to each other. However, Marth, who sat away from everyone else, sighed heavily and asked, "We're finally here, right?"

"Yes, _Your Majesty_ ," Samus said, her tone obviously annoyed. She turned to the rest of the room, "We've landed on the planet. According my analysis, the atmosphere here is heavier than most; just a warning in case you find it hard to breathe."

Rising from his chair, Marth responded, "A heavier atmosphere? So, we can't breathe out there unless we have a suit like yours?"

"Would you stop being so difficult, Marth?" Mario asked, almost pleading as he helped Peach rise, "You just traveled across space for the first time in your life. You aren't the least bit, I don't know, excited?"

"I didn't even want to be here," Marth muttered. He drew his sword and swung it around briefly to warm up his arm, "All I said was—"

"You insulted me and my profession **to my face** ," Samus corrected, tapping some buttons on the walls. Once she saw that the ship was locked, she turned back top Marth, "And I invited you to accompany me on a mission. You're the one who accepted it."

"Just to prove to everyone here that you're a fraud," Marth fired back, "A galactic-renowned bounty hunter, they call you. Well, how hard could your job be?"

Instead of firing back, Samus stared at Marth maliciously. She walked past the cocky Prince and said, "We should head out. Little Mac, you can stay here and look after the ship with Dedede and Peach. If one of you could go down to maintenance and make sure we have enough fuel to get home, that be great."

* * *

"This place is beautiful," Rosalina commented as they walked between two large rocks. The mustard-yellow rocks spiralled into the air and curved back towards the ground. She looked ahead of them, into the sky: there were two bright suns that looked like they were stacked onto one-another. While she marveled at the suns, Marth wiped some sweat from his forehead.

"Beautiful? This place is horrible," Marth said, "It's so hot."

"I would say that it's _humid_ , not hot," Mario replied, trying to peak over Samus's shoulders. In her hand, she held what looked like a small screen. On it, she followed a line that guided them to, presumably, where the distress signal came from.

"Same thing, basically," Marth whined. He also looked ahead at Samus, "Hey Samus, where are we going?"

"The distress signal came from an area just west of here," Samus said, still looking at the screen, "I'm thinking that a spaceship crashed onto this planet and sent out an _S.O.S._ signal."

"And you went across the galaxy to check it out?" Marth asked, his voice full of doubt, "Really? You're supposed to be a bounty hunter, not some galactic rescue ranger."

Quickly, Samus turned around and shouted, "Would you cut it out?! I get it; you don't want to be here, even though you told me that you'd come. Just keep your mouth shut and let me focus on finding the source of the signal!"

Passively, Marth complied, looking away from her and began to pout behind the others. They continued following Samus, who lead them down a rocky hill towards even more mustard-yellow rock structures. Mario scratched his shoulder, feeling the dry, heavy atmosphere take its toll on his skin. He squirmed around, becoming increasingly uncomfortable as their walk continued.

* * *

Little Mac walked around the large cockpit; there were three chairs lined up in a row, a few feet apart from each other, in front of the main console that was tinted with dark blue. Outside the large windscreen, the orange exterior of the ship was barely visible. Peach sat in the middle chair, staring outside at the rocky, steep mountains of the planet, as Little Mac inspected the various buttons, levers, and screens on the console.

"You know, for a barren wasteland, this place isn't that bad," Peach said, admiring the terrain, "It's very picturesque."

Curious, Little Mac asked, "Princess, if you don't me asking, why did you come here?"

"Get away from my responsibilities," the Princess answered, turning away from the windscreen, "I mean, I wasn't going to, but Luigi got sick, and Mario didn't want to go alone."

"Understandable," Little Mac nodded, "You know, I've never been on another planet before… Even if I was only brought along to look after the ship."

When the steel doors slid open, Dedede entered the cockpit with an iron mask on. He took it off and hung it on a hook beside the door. "It's ridiculously dark down there," he said, panting from the long walk, "and hot, too."

"How much fuel do we have left?" Little Mac asked, turning his head to see him

"Should be enough to get back home," King Dedede responded, "If it isn't, we'll be close enough that Fox or Falco could pick us up."

"I never realized that you had a knack for space-age technology, Dedede," Peach complimented sweetly, looking in his direction.

The compliment surprised Dedede, evident from the way he drew back and smiled. He shrugged his shoulders while grinning uncontrollably, "It's nothing, really. You know, Samus originally wanted Kirby, but he was busy."

"So, you were the next best option, then?" Peach asked, "Not Fox nor Falco?"

"Well, they were busy too," Dedede responded, still grinning, "Something about Star Wolf or whatever."

"I guess everything happens for a reason," Peach smiled back, turning to face the mountains again, "I'm sure that you were the best option all along. Maybe Samus just needed help seeing that."

"I guess so."

* * *

After climbing up a steep, rocky hill, Samus saw something strange: it looked like a facility, or lab, of some kind that seemed to be abandoned. The steel exterior had burn marks across it, and all the windows had been broken. Shocked, Samus quickly ran over to the facility with the others following closely. At the base of the facility, Samus knelt when she saw something that looked like a deflated balloon. As she felt the circular body, Mario looked inside the opening in the steel wall; the hallway was covered in debris and ash.

"This must be it," Mario said, awestruck, "What happened here…?"

"I don't know," Samus muttered, standing up. She looked inside, seemingly hesitating to enter the building.

When Rosalina looked down at the deflated body, she noticed something peculiar about it. "Is that a Metroid?" she asked curiously.

"It is…" Samus said, her voice confused. The sight of the body clearly disturbed her.

After drawing his sword, Marth poked the lifeless Metroid with it; the Metroid had been drained of all it's energy, apparently. "I though you destroyed all the Metroids on SR369 or whatever," he responded, almost mocking her.

"I did," Samus said quickly, still thinking.

Marth, Rosalina, and Mario followed Samus into the facility. The hallway was completely empty, asides from the debris and ash. It was unnerving; the sounds of glass cracking under their shoes, the blinking of the destroyed lights above them, and the dark rooms ahead of them. There were no windows inside the hallway, and the hallway felt like it kept getting smaller and smaller. The longer they walked through the abandoned facility, the more anxious Marth became. Eventually, breaking the silence, Marth spoke up, "What are we looking for exactly? You have to tell me why you wanted to come inside this place."

Stopping in front of a large steel door, Samus turned around and said, "Anything, really. This place has to be a testing facility of some kind. I destroyed all the Metroids in the galaxy when I blew up SR388. And, that baby Metroid outside the facility… It was killed by another Metroid."

"A Metroid killed another member of its species?" Rosalina asked, "That's impossible. Metroids don't attack their own."

"I don't think these are normal Metroids," Samus responded, turning back to the door, "Mario, help me with this."

As Mario and Samus began pulling the door open, Marth put his sword away and approached Rosalina, "How do you know so much about Metroids?"

Rosalina looked down the eerie hallway, smiling slightly, "I've always been fascinated by them; in my travels, I've read a lot about their creation and their history. But, I've never actually seen one of them in person."

After struggling for a bit, Mario and Samus finally got the door open. Inside the room was a trashed lab; broken equipment covered the tables, chairs, and ground. A few large tubes had been broken around the room, and several deflated Metroids covered the ground along with the remains of some scientists. The sight made Marth look away from the beakers in disgust. When inspecting the remains, Rosalina and Mario saw blue liquid splashed on the heads of the scientists. On the other side of the room, Samus saw a computer beside another broken tube. Quickly, she turned it on, and, to her left, she saw a memory stick.

"Hey Samus, how do Metroids… Kill their prey, exactly?" Mario asked, lightly running a finger on the broken glass of the tubes. When he looked at his fingertip, it was covered in a blue liquid.

"Depends on what kind of Metroid there are," Samus said, focusing on her current task. When the computer finally booted up, Samus saw the wallpaper of the desktop and had her suspension confirmed; this was a Federation facility.

"There are multiple kinds of these monsters?" Marth groaned, trying to hide his fear through frustration, "This place is an absolute nightmare."

"Well, Metroids have different stages of life," Rosalina explained, ignoring Marth's angst, "From what the bodies look like, these poor guys had their energy completely drained from them."

Shaking his head, Mario looked away from the beakers, "That can't be enough to _kill_ somebody… Can it?"

Samus unplugged the memory stick from the computer tower and put it away. She turned to the others and said, "Let's get back to the ship. We'll move it closer to this facility and investigate further tomorrow."

"How long are we going to be here for?" Marth asked, his face curling from the stench of the bodies.

"A couple days, maybe," Samus said, shrugging, "The Federation was up to something here. I don't know what they were doing here exactly, and we shouldn't leave until we figure it out."

"A couple days?!" Marth shouted, his anxiety clearly taking over, "Well, why don't we leave then come back when you figure it out?!"

Sighing, Samus shook her head, "You clearly have no idea how space travel works—"

Emerging from the shadows, something attacked Marth. He screamed and fell to the floor, flailing around violently on the floor. Because of the scarce light in the room, nobody could see what was happening. They only heard Marth's slightly muffled shrieks and his limbs hitting various objects around them.

"What's going on!?" Rosalina shouted, trying to see.

Mario clinched his fist and opened it quickly, summoning some fire in his palm. Now, they saw a Metroid on top of Marth's head, sucking energy out of his body. Marth's screams only got louder as Samus fired at the Metroid several times. Finally, after the sixth or seventh strike, the baby Metroid flew off Marth's head. It nearly hit Mario, but he ducked just in time. As it hit a nearby table, Samus stuck out a hand to help Marth up. Stubbornly, Marth pushed her arm away and rose to his feet. He drew his sword and approached the baby Metroid.

"You mother—!"

Marth's curses were soon suppressed by the sounds of his blade. He stabbed down at the Metroid several times, each strike becoming harder and faster. After the initial yellow liquid flew around, blue liquid began to do to the same. Samus and Rosalina stood still, surprised by Marth's sudden turn from scared to bloodthirsty. While Marth continued this, Mario ran to him and shouted, "My God, Marth! Stop! You've done enough!"

Mario wrapped his arms around Marth, as he continued to curse and yell. The Prince soon calmed down, taking multiple deep breaths to do so. When he finally settled down, Marth looked down at the mess he created. Before he walked back to the others, he spat on the Metroid.

"Let's get the hell off this cursed planet," Marth said, walking towards the door from which they entered the room.

Rosalina followed Marth out of the room, but Mario stayed behind with Samus. Samus inspected the Metroid further; it was noticeably more red than other Metroids than Samus encounter. In addition, Samus saw that the yellow liquid had melted the table and ground around the Metroid. She felt some of it in her hand; it was gooey and thick, unlike the yellow liquid that melted everything around it.

"You coming, Samus?" Mario asked, looking down at Marth's work.

"I'll meet you outside," Samus said, not taking her eyes off the baby Metroid.


	2. 2

When the boarding ramp was lowered, Marth was the first one to get onto the gunship. He breezed by Dedede, who had asked him what happened. He walked straight past Peach and Little Mac as well, deciding to walk towards their living quarters on the other side of the ship. The ones who stayed behind looked at the others.

"What happened to Marth?" Dedede asked, "He's broodier than he was before."

Sighing, Samus answered, "He was attacked by a Metroid in a facility west of here. We're going to move to get closer to the facility, so that we can continue our investigation."

Suddenly, Marth came roaring back towards the other crew members and yelled, "No we're not! You are going to get us the hell off this planet!"

"Marth, you need to relax," Peach interjected, trying to calm him down with a smooth voice, "Just take a breath—"

"TAKE A BREATH!? I ALMOST DIED!" he yelled, his voice louder than before, "I will not stay here while there are those… Those monsters out there!"

Frustrated, Mario stepped closer to Marth aggressively, "You didn't even want to be here. You're the one who thought Samus' job as a bounty hunter was a joke. Now, you want her to abort her mission because you're scared!?"

"Mario, that's enough," Samus sighed, removing her helmet calmly. She looked Marth straight in his eyes, her expression disappointed and angry, "It's fine. We'll be off this planet in an hour at the most. I'll just come back here alone."

As everybody looked at Marth with anger, the boarding ramp closed behind Samus. She pushed past Marth, stomping her boots on her way to the cockpit. When Samus was out of sight, Mario looked at Marth, who did not return his gaze. "I hope you're happy," Mario said, gritting his teeth.

* * *

Upon leaving the solar system, Samus set the ship to _auto-pilot_ and went into her room, which was just down the hall from the cockpit. While she took off her Varia suit, she heard the memory stick hit the floor. When she was back into her Zero Suit, she picked it up and walked back to her cockpit. Locking the doors behind her, Samus also dimmed the lights. It was nearly pitch-black in the cockpit; now, she could focus.

After she plugged the memory stick into her main console, several screens appeared on the giant windscreen. "Adam," she said, sinking into her chair, "Open all the files starting with the earliest-created."

The console responded, opening a document that originated from the Galactic Federation. Samus read over it a few times closely before moving onto the next document in the file. Her worst fears came to light; the Federation, using some left-over DNA, followed through with their plans to create and weaponize Metroids. They synthesized over a thousand Metroids in the lab before they finally created the prototype desired. This Metroid was incredibly formidable, even in its infant stages. The planet PM-18C was chosen due to its similarities to SR388—again confirming one of Samus' suspensions—and the new Metroids mutated under the harsher atmosphere. Eventually, these Metroids were not satisfied with regular prey, and the Federation began making weak Metroids for the new ones to feed on. Hours of research later, Samus came across a video file, the first one in close to a hundred files.

"Play the video, Adam," Samus ordered, leaning forward studiously, "Turn the lights off completely; I want to see everything."

* * *

After he left the shower, Marth scrubbed his long hair with a towel. He changed quickly and grabbed his belt. When he drew his sword, Mario and Dedede looked over at the sounds of it. Mario rolled his eyes and left the living quarters, annoyed. Marth obliviously took his spot, making Dedede roll his eyes. Marth placed his sword carefully on the table, displaying the gooey blue substance to Dedede. Disgusted, Dedede stood up quickly with his book still in hand.

"Why haven't you cleaned your sword yet?" Dedede snapped, "We've been flying for at least four hours!"

"I had to clean myself up first," Marth said, thinking the answer was all-too obvious, "I felt sticky and sweaty from our investigation. I'm not going to clean my blade before I clean myself."

"Whatever," Dedede shook his head. He sat back down, leaning away from the table and continuing his book. While Marth wiped down his sword with a small towel, the blue liquid spilt onto the table.

"You know, Dedede, I got some of this in my mouth," Marth commented, trying to start a conversation due to boredom.

Trying to ignore Marth, and the smell of the blue substance, King Dedede muttered, "Uh-huh?"

"It was crazy," Marth said, leaning into each of his wipes. His voice become deeper and braver the longer he spoke, "That creature attacked me—had me on the ropes, too—but I was able to fight back. I pinned that beast against a table and just let my instincts take over; I didn't stop thrusting my blade into it until Mario pulled me off it. By then, it's blood flew everywhere; onto my clothing, into my mouth, onto the tables, chairs… You name it. Strange, really; it's blood was two colours."

"Yeah?' Dedede muttered, still sounding extremely uninterested.

"Blue and yellow. It was rather odd, if you asked me," Marth grinned before cleaning his blade further.

* * *

"I just don't understand why Marth is the way he is," Mario shook his head as he looked into the hall that lead to the cockpit. It was dimly lit, like the rest of the ship, to encourage sleep; after all, Samus has told them that sleeping was the best way to pass time on a spacecraft. However, Mario had something to get off his chest, "He acts so tough until he's confronted with a situation that demands action; what kind of Prince talks so confidently then, the next minute, crumbles under stress?"

"He's a coward," Peach added, taking a seat next to Little Mac, "I'm sure Samus would have let him stay here with me, Little Mac, and Dedede. Maybe she would've even let one of us replace him."

"I'd fight with Samus until my face turned blue if Marth stayed behind," Little Mac commented, looking around the main hold, "I don't think I could stand him for that long."

"You and me both," Peach agreed.

* * *

When she heard a knock on the door, Samus stood up from her chair and unlocked the door. There, she saw Rosalina standing curiously outside it. "How can I help you, Rosalina?" Samus asked.

"I wanted to ask about the Metroid that attacked Marth," Rosalina said, looking into the cockpit. When she saw the documents and files on the windscreen, she said, "I could see that you're hard at work."

"Come in," Samus nodded as she stepped to the side. Rosalina walked into the cockpit as Samus quickly pressed a button on the door-frame, making the door close quickly. When she locked the door, Rosalina looked closely at the documents on the screen.

"I locked the door for a reason," Samus began, returning to her seat. While she spoke, Rosalina sat in the chair to her left, "I didn't want to be bothered by anybody."

"Well, sorry to be the one," Rosalina said.

Closing the documents currently on the windscreen, Samus spun her chair to face Rosalina and leaned back, "At least you have competent knowledge of the Metroid species, even if you've never actually seen one in person."

Nodding again, this time in thanks, Rosalina looked outside the windscreen, "Tell me about the Metroid we encountered."

Almost frowning, Samus pressed a button on the console. A document appeared on the screen, another Federation one. "PM-18C housed a Galactic Federation testing facility that conducted experiments on a weaponized Metroid. The planet was chosen specifically for it's similarities to SR388. However, the Federation didn't realize the harsher atmosphere of PM-18C…"

"I'm guessing that the Metroid that they created… It became stronger than they anticipated?" Rosalina asked, slightly surprised.

"Unfortunately, it did," Samus responded, shaking her head as she pulled up another document, "The new Metroids are extremely formidable and hard to kill, even in their infant stages. When they grow into their older phases, their skin is basically impenetrable."

Both interested and frightened, Rosalina quietly asked, "What about in the Queen stage?"

"The Federation never let them get that far," Samus sighed heavily, "The scientists roasted them alive before they reached that phase. Then, the Metroids adapted to this; their skin weakens, but no longer burns, under flames, and their infancy only lasts a couple of hours. It seems that they also changed the genetic make-up of their blood."

"How so?"

"Acidic. To prevent the scientists from collecting their remains, and creating more of them, the Metroids made their blood extremely acidic," explained Samus, pressing another button on the console. After the documents vanished from the windscreen, Samus continued, "The scientists even gave the Metroids a nickname based on this development; Blood Metroid, I believe that's what it was… Before they could see the mutation in the blood, a Zeta Metroid broke out and destroyed the facility."

"My goodness… That's awful…" Rosalina said, leaning forward into her seat. As Samus continued to talk, Rosalina felt her stomach turn.

"That's not all," Samus said, "Because the scientists started to kill the Blood Metroids so frequently, another genetic mutation occurred: Blood Metroids can use other organisms as their eggs and produce a larva. All they need to do is get their gametes into any orifice of their host."

"That's… That's disgusting," Rosalina said, straightening up in her chair, still feeling her stomach turn, "What do their gametes look like? You know, because Marth completely eviscerated one of those creatures back at the lab."

"It's blue and gooey, but I'm sure none of us were contaminated," Samus quickly dismissed, standing from her chair, "I saw the gametes myself; they were spilt all over the ground and the Blood Metroid, but none of it was anywhere near Marth's mouth."

* * *

While they ate some preserved food in the main hold, Peach and Mario saw Dedede walk down the hallway. He just came from the living quarters, having finished reading his book. After he put the book down on the table, he asked, "Where'd you get the food?"

"In one of those compartments just over there," Mario answered, pointing across the room, behind the other table, and stuffing some food in his face. As Dedede waddled over to the other table, Marth slowly came from the same hallway. When he entered the room, Peach rolled her eyes, obviously agitated.

"Perfect. I'm starving," Marth commented, either ignoring Peach or being oblivious to her.

"Here. Have mine," Little Mac said, sliding his food in Marth's direction, "I just lost my appetite."

Marth took the food and sat down at the other table. He began eating quickly and loudly, annoying everyone else even more. When Dedede found a white box, he headed towards Mario's table. However, Marth, with a mouth full of food, called, "King Dedede! Come; sit with me."

"I'm… I'm good," Dedede replied as some food fell from the corner of Marth's mouth. He placed his box next to Mario's and sat down.

"Suit yourself; just squish over there with the rest of them, then," Marth shrugged nonchalantly, his mouth still full of food. Just as Dedede began eating, Rosalina and Samus entered the main hold. Like everyone else, they wanted to get something to eat before going to sleep.

"We should be home in fourteen-to-eighteen days," Samus announced, leaning on the wall. Rosalina went to the compartment with the food, getting some of the food from it. Samus took a breath and began to speak again, but Marth interrupted her with a coughing fit. Every member of the crew stared at him as he caught his breath again.

"Slow down, Marth," Mario said plainly, "You don't want to choke on your own food."

"I didn't choke," Marth panted, wiping the sudden sweat that formed during his cough, "The food… There's just no flavour."

"Right," Samus commented before she turned back to the others, "When we get back, I need to refuel on supplies; gas, food, cleaning, toiletries, what have you…"

"Well, when are you going to go back to that place?" Mario asked, "Because, when you do, I'll come back with you."

"It's better if I come back alone, but thank you," Samus replied, still sounding shaken by the trip, "I appreciate the support, but things are easier to manage on my own."

Rosalina closed the compartment and walked over to Mario's table. However, she turned around when Marth began coughing again. This time, however, it was a much more violent bark; the cough was loud, causing Marth to lean forward, trying to breath. A second later, Little Mac said, "The food's not that bad, Marth. Get over yourself."

"It's… It's not the food," Marth panted, leaning back on his seat, "I… I feel sick…"

"It's probably because you let that thing bleed into your mouth, or whatever," Dedede muttered, playing with his own food.

Quickly, Samus turned to Dedede, her eyes widening and the colour draining from her face. "What did you say?"

"When Marth was cleaning his sword, he told me about his _courageous act_ in killing whatever it is that you all encountered," Dedede explained, still looking at his food. Suddenly, Marth began coughing again. Rolling his eyes and raising his voice, Dedede continued, "I wasn't listening too carefully, though; I was reading."

"But, what got into his mouth?!" Samus said, nearly shouting. The fear in her voice caught the attention of everybody else in the room. Rosalina turned to Marth, who spat up some food onto the table. He was no longer coughing; those turned into screams. Mario, Dedede, Peach, and Little Mac rushed out of their seats, running over to Marth. When Rosalina tried to help Marth, Samus pulled her back violently.

"Don't touch him," Samus warned, stepping in front of everyone else, "He's contaminated."

"Contaminated by what?!" Peach screamed, trying to speak over Marth's cries.

Eventually, Marth flopped onto the table, pushing his food off it; it spilt onto the other chairs, the walls, and floor. Samus retraced her steps, running down the hallway towards her own quarters. As she was gone, Peach and Mario looked at each other, scared.

"What do you we do? How could we help him?" Peach asked, trying to look away from Marth.

Mario shook his head, looking down at the ground shameful, "You heard Samus; we can't do anything… He's contaminated by something."

Now frustrated, Peach screamed, at the top of her lungs, "BUT BY WHAT?"

When Samus remerged, she pushed past Rosalina as fast as she could and raised her pistol, the Paralyzer. As Marth began moving and jerking around the table, thrusting his chest into the air with every movement, Samus aimed it at his chest, waiting. Eventually, Dedede shouted, "For crying out loud, what are you doing with a gun—!?"

"Shut up and let me focus," Samus said through her teeth, tightening her grip.

Marth stopped flailing momentarily, and his screams dipped. Everyone, except for Samus, relaxed for a moment. However, a red and yellow substance, a mixture of blood, suddenly appeared on Marth's chest, under his armor, as he shrieked in pain. It was blood-curling; the pitch stung their ears and gave them chills. The blood quickly shot up from his chest again, nailing Samus in the face. She flopped back onto Dedede and Little Mac, and her gun flew across the room. As Dedede and Little Mac tried to get Samus back onto her feet, Marth screamed again. The room silenced as Marth's screaming stopped. Bursting from his chest were four maroon fangs, two large ones surrounding two smaller ones. Something suddenly popped in his chest, sending blood all over the room.

More blood spilt onto Samus' zero suit and onto the rest of the crew. Samus froze at the sight of it; a baby Metroid flew upside down from the wound, flipping in the air when it was at her head height. It was the biggest infant Metroid that Samus had ever seen, and, although it was covered in Marth's fresh blood, there was a natural red tint to it. While Samus watched it float in the air, she became limp in Dedede and Little Mac's arms; it all came back to her, all those horrible memories from her previous missions. Helplessly, she was paralyzed as the Metroid flew towards her but was stopped by a blast. Mario had grabbed her pistol from the other side of the main hold and fired it towards the Metroid. Quickly, it retreated down the hallway, flying out of sight.


	3. 3

Dedede and Little Mac, fearing contamination, covered Marth's body with a white bed sheet. As soon as it touched the body, it was stained with red. Samus sat down at the table away from the mess, looking at the ground. How could she be so reckless? The moment that they returned to ship, she should have screened all of them and had them clean themselves off. More so, Samus felt responsible that it had to come to this; she should have gotten all her crew some suits like her own, just for protection, or she should have just swallowed her pride and done this mission alone. Little Mac, Dedede, Peach, Rosalina, Mario, and herself were now stuck in the middle of space with a deadly monster she knew very little about. Marth's death was entirely her fault.

Samus was quickly taken out of her own self-deprecation by the whimpers of somebody; Peach was clear disturbed by what she saw, like the rest of the lot, but she seemed to take it particularly hard. It was not until now that Samus saw blood covering Peach's dress and cheeks. She had been the closet to Marth when he died.

With Peach tucked into his embrace, Mario asked, "What are we dealing with?"

"The Federation called it a Blood Metroid," Rosalina muttered blankly, "When Marth killed one back on PM-18C, its gametes must've gotten into his body somehow."

"But, how do we kill it?" Mario asked, his voice rising.

Shrugging, Rosalina desperately looked at Samus. When Samus did not move from her seat, still looking down with wide eyes, Dedede hopelessly asked, "…Can we kill it?"

"If it bleeds, it can die," Mario deduced, caressing Peach's head gently.

"It's not that simple," Samus added suddenly, bringing her head up. However, she still looked into nothing, "The Federation burnt their bodies back at that facility. But, they created an ideal predator, and it quickly adapted; the Blood Metroid's skin is basically impenetrable when it becomes a Gamma Metroid. Our best hope to kill it is while it is still an infant."

"But, _how_ can we kill it?" Mario asked again, sounding angrier than before.

"Although it's skin is impenetrable, I still think we can break it," Samus explained. She brought her gaze to Mario, who looked extremely focused, "When the Federation Scientists found this mutation, they kept burning them. Just because their skin can't be broken doesn't mean that it's fireproof."

Shaking his head, Dedede cussed, "Holy crap… You want to cook this thing to death?"

"I don't know if we have any other options," Samus replied, looking to Mario.

It seemed that all eyes were on him now. Feeling this, Mario said, "I don't even know if I can create flames that get hot enough to roast something."

"You won't be the only one," Samus explained. She stood up and said, "I need to get my suit, and I have some weapons by the living quarters. Once I'm ready, I'll head over there and get them."

"We should go to the cockpit," Rosalina suggested, looking down the dark hallway opposite of it, "We can airlock the door while you load up…"

"Little Mac, come with me," Samus said. Turning around, Little Mac looked at Samus terrified, "We'll meet the others in the cockpit once I get my suit."

* * *

Once they were in the cockpit, Dedede sat down in the first chair that he saw. He wiped sweat off his face and panted heavily. As he rubbed his arms trying to comfort and unnerve himself, Rosalina entered a code into the pad next to the door. Mario watched her as Peach continued to whimper quietly. Turning back to her, Mario tried to hush her.

"It's okay, Peach… It's okay…" he tried to say, again embracing her, "We're going to be okay."

Finally, she lifted her head up and looked and him; her blue eyes were wet, tears slowly flowing from them. "I've never heard someone scream like that…" she muttered, her voice nearly breaking with every word, "I didn't know that a person's scream could be so… So horrifying…"

Taking her hand gently, Mario softly said, "It's going to be okay, Peach. I know you're scared. I'm scared too. We're all terrified. But, we have to be brave now. The only way we stand a chance against this thing is by working together."

"Well, why don't we just hide in here?" Peach asked, boarding on frantic, "Get Samus and Little Mac back in here. Lock the door and let that thing starve to death."

"It's not that simple…" Rosalina rebutted. When she saw that she had everyone's attention, she continued, "The Blood Metroid would find a way to get inside; it's one of the smartest organisms in the galaxy."

"How do you know this?" King Dedede asked from his spot, still panting.

Rosalina stood up and calmly walked over to the main console. Seeing that the memory stick was still plug into it. She pressed a button on the console and said, "Adam, bring up the last documents opened."

Suddenly, on the windscreen, several documents appeared. One of them, the one furthest away from Rosalina, was a lab report. Walking over to that side, Rosalina said, "This lab report was written after thousands of trials. The Federation finally created what they called a "perfect organism capable of complex thought that only becomes more intelligent with age". If we stay here, it'll find a way to get to us."

"That gives us no choice then…" Mario shook his head, looking at the lab report, "We have to kill it."

* * *

Before they entered the dark corridor, Samus let her pistol cool down. She set it on the table as Little Mac stared across the room. The blood that covered it was completely dry, looking maroon and crusty. The sheet that covered Marth's corpse shared the same colour and texture as the wall and floor now, making Little Mac uncomfortable. Seeing this, Samus spoke up, "You okay?"

Little Mac still stared at the wall and body. He wanted to look away, but he just could not; the horrifying scene and stench demanded his attention. Trying to talk, Little Mac opened his mouth. However, he simply could not reply. Samus stood up and approached him, standing between him and the blood. "You have to talk to me," Samus said.

Little Mac sighed, "I'm not cut-out for this… This is something I can't deal with. Samus, I'm a boxer. I fight _people_ ; I have a hard-enough time keeping up with the other Smash Brothers as is… How the hell am I getting out of this alive?"

"Believe me, I'm in way over my head too," Samus said, trying to sound as empathetic as possible, "I always get in way over my head; it's apart of my job. It's just something you have to push through."

"It's apart of _your_ job, not mine," Little Mac said anxiously, "You've handled things like this before… I let my curiosity get the best of me…"

"Don't think about that," Samus warned, picking up her pistol, which was now cool, "You're stuck here, now. And, we're in a life or death situation. If the Blood Metroid is let loose onto society, there will be consequences that you nor I can imagine. They are the apex of apex predators; they can and will kill everything."

Samus walked down the hallway slowly, followed extremely closely by Little Mac. The sooner that Samus could get to her Varia suit, the better. She felt unusual vulnerable without it. She knew that she could fight in what she was already wearing, but, after everything she saw in her research, and after she let Marth die, Samus would be safer in it. At least, that's what she thought.

They crept further into the shadowy hall, still having some of the light from the main hold lighting the corridor, though it was very dim. When Samus took a step, she fell forward, tripping on something. Quickly, Little Mac helped her up and looked at whatever she tripped on; there was a large hole in the ground, seemingly burned into it. When Samus was on her feet, she squinted her eyes. There were ash marks and little holes all over the ground. Now watching her steps, Samus sprinted towards her room.

The door was open, and there was a trail of holes. And, when Samus turned on the light, she saw her Varia suit; it was all over the ground, having gushes, burns, and yellow liquid all over it. Distraught, Samus walked over to her suit, her jaw dropping with each step. She saw a hole directly through the middle of the chest-piece, which was completely burned through it. She could have broken down and sobbed right there; her Varia suit was both contaminated and destroyed.

Walking behind her, Little Mac saw the suit and looked down, "…I'm sorry, Samus."

Still in her own head, Samus knelt in front of the wreckage. She stayed there, absolutely silent, mourning the loss of her suit. From here, their job would get much tougher.

The only thing that took her out of her trance was Little Mac's scream. He flopped onto Samus' bed, kicking his leg in the air. Samus turned around and saw it; the Blood Metroid had grown into it's Alpha stage. There was a bug-like shell on the top of it now, but it still had a translucent bottom with a maroon tint. Also, just above it's four fangs, it had snow white eyes. It must have been hiding in the room, waiting for somebody to come inside. It's fangs were around Little Mac's leg, and Little Mac tried desperately to kick free.

Instinctively, Samus raised her weapon and shot at the Blood Metroid. The Blood Metroid froze for a split second, but bit down on Little Mac's leg harder. He screamed louder, furiously kicking his leg as fast as he could. Samus shrugged and shot it again, much to the same effect. Little Mac kept shrieking at the top of his lungs; blood began streaming down his leg as the Blood Metroid bit deeper into his calf. Samus put her gun down, staring at the Metroid. She saw a large scar between the Blood Metroid's eyes. When she turned around, she saw a piece of her Varia suit which had become sharp and splinter-like.

"Stop kicking!" Samus shouted, grabbing the piece. However, Little Mac could not hear her, for he kept kicking aggressively. After a few more powerful kicks, Little Mac became noticeably lethargic. When his leg barely bobbed up and down, Samus took her opportunity; swiftly, she stabbed the piece into the scar of the Alpha Metroid.

The Metroid shrieked and released Little Mac's leg. Yellow blood began leaking from the wound, splashing onto Samus' arm. She cussed and pulled the piece out, but it broke in half. The Blood Metroid flew away, hitting the wall outside of Samus' room recklessly. As it flew in the opposite direction of the cockpit, Samus aided Little Mac to the others. With Little Mac's arm over her shoulder, Samus rushed to the cockpit and banged on the door.

"Open the damn door!" she yelled, "Little Mac's hurt!"

When the door opened, King Dedede helped Samus carry Little Mac to a chair. Little Mac breathed heavily, flopping into the chair; his legs and arms were limp, and his head was back. His calf had four bleeding gashes in it, and his ankles had been burnt badly by the blood of the Metroid. Samus looked at her own arm; the bit of blood that splashed onto her arm burnt her a little of her Zero suit and the skin underneath.

"It evolved…" Samus panted, tossing her pistol onto the ground, "It evolved in less than an hour…"

"Does that mean…?" Rosalina asked, but she could not finish. As she looked down, Dedede looked at the both of them.

"If we don't kill it within a few hours, we're going to have a big problem," Samus said, looking at the door.

Baffled, Dedede shouted, "A big problem? A BIGGER ONE THAN WE HAVE NOW?!"

"My suit's contaminated, and this thing can evolve faster than what the Federation documented," Samus fired back, not quiet as loud as Dedede, "So, yes; a bigger problem than we have now!"

Shaking his head, Dedede looked outside; again, he saw that they were absolutely stranded. There was not a star system anywhere near them. Both Peach and Mario walked over to Little Mac. He looked deflated and tired. Every breath he took looked like it could have been his last, and his wound slowly seeped blood continuously. "Is he infected?" Peach asked worriedly, still looking at the struggling Little Mac.

"How would she know?" Dedede muttered, "She was wrong last time."

Surprised, Samus slowly turned her head towards Dedede. With fiery eyes, she said, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Dedede said, looking at Samus. He approached her slowly, only stopping when he was inches away from her face, "You said that Marth wasn't infected, didn't you? Rosalina told me that you said he was fine. And now he's dead."

Clinching her fist, Samus almost started shaking, holding herself back. Within a second, Mario and Rosalina were between the two, pushing both away from one another. "Stop it!" Rosalina shouted, "We can't do this right now!"

"But, am I wrong?!" Dedede asked, trying to shrug Mario away from pushing him back, "We should've left Marth on that planet, and you know that, Samus! Because you were too careless, we're all going to meet the same fate Marth did!"

During the commotion, Peach looked closely at Little Mac's wound. It was still fresh but barely bled. Now that the bleeding mostly stopped, it did not look like a regular wound; it looked more like four perfectly shaped holes in Little Mac's calf, some larger than the other ones. The wound on Little Mac's ankle somehow looked worse; the skin was pink and tender, like a raw chicken breast. When Peach tried to clean the wounds with her glove, Little Mac winced the moment she touched his skin. Peach saw that Little Mac wanted to scream in pain but did not have the energy to. When Peach looked back down at the wound, it became pitch-black in the cockpit, silencing the argument. Even the main console, which had buttons that never actually turned off, was black. A few seconds later, something in the main console booted up; the lights inside the cockpit turned on, although they were extremely dim.

"What the hell was that?" Rosalina asked, her voice shaking.

Samus did not respond, but she did run over to the main console. She leaned on it and asked, "Adam, bring up the security feed of maintenance."

On the windscreen, a camera feed appeared. In maintenance, the lighting was the exact same as it was in the cockpit. However, they saw, clear as day, that there was a large pile of skin on the ground. Defeated, Samus sighed and dropped her head, "It evolved again… Now, it's in maintenance."

"It must've done something to the generator down there," Dedede thought aloud. He looked up at Samus and said, "I should go down there and try to fix it."

"It's a Gamma Metroid now," Samus said, "If you go down there alone, you're going to die."

"He doesn't have to go alone," Rosalina said, looking at the door. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm her nerves, "I'll go with him."

"Me too," Mario said, "We have to kill that thing as soon as we can."

"Please don't leave," Peach muttered, grabbing Mario's arm from behind. Facing her now, Mario saw her wet, scarred eyes, "I need you right now."

Samus bent down and picked up her pistol. She looked at the door as well, sighing, "We have to fix the generator. The emergency one is only meant to last a few hours, maybe a day, and we're not due back home for another two weeks. There's only six of us left, almost five… One of us has to stay back with Little Mac while the rest of us get to the weapons by the living quarters and repair the generator."

"I'll go get the weapons," Mario volunteered, stepping forward and away from Peach, "Once I get them, I'll come straight back here."

"I'm going with you," Dedede muttered with a nod. When the others looked at him, he said, "I need to get my hammer."

"But, you have to get down to maintenance," Rosalina said, "You're the best one."

"It's fine," Samus shrugged, shaking her head with frustration. She looked at Rosalina and said, "This is my ship. I know it better than anybody else here. You and I can go there," Samus handed Rosalina the silver pistol, trying not to look as angered as she was, "You'll just have to cover me."

Dedede nodded and set out immediately after. Mario put his head down and sighed, then followed Dedede. However, Peach pulled him back at kissed him on the cheek, "Hurry back. Please."


	4. 4

Upon passing through the main hold, Dedede and Mario took a left. The hallway was dim but not as dark as the cockpit. However, the hallway seemed much smaller than it was previously; Dedede looked like he took up nearly half of it. They heard some footsteps in rapid succession, but it was all behind and below them, so they paid little attention to it. When they got to the living quarters, Mario noticed that it was the most well-lit area in the ship. Beside the individual bunks inside the wall and table were two silver doors. One of them led to the bathroom and shower area, and the other one housed the weapons.

"This must be it," Dedede muttered, catching his breath from their walk.

"You shouldn't be here," Mario said, looking at the door, "Why didn't you go down to maintenance?"

Dedede shrugged nearly carelessly, "I need to get my hammer."

"You would've had it regardless," Mario fired back quickly, "Just think about it for a second. Samus brought you on because of your knowledge of this kind of technology. Now, when we need you the most, you want to come get weapons instead of repairing our power supply?"

"Get off your high horse, Mario," Dedede shrugged again, "I need to get my hammer… I'm nothing without my hammer…"

"Well, if you're nothing without your hammer, then you shouldn't have it," Mario said, looking away. He gritted his teeth, "Go on and open it; I'll keep watch.

Dedede hobbled to the door and pressed one of the buttons next to it. When the silver door opened, he saw the weapons cache; it was a small walk-in closet with several shelves full of weapons. Dedede immediately grabbed his large wooden hammer and swung it around, looking incredibly relieved. As he did so, Mario looked deeper inside the cache; there were many different kinds of weapons, but he did not know which ones to grab.

While Mario picked up a plasma rifle, the _super scope_ , and inspected it carefully, Dedede heard noises coming from the hallway. It was the footsteps from before, but they felt closer. He turned to it when the noises became louder and faster. Mario put the _super scope_ down and followed Dedede's yell. In front of them, about a head taller than Mario, was the Blood Metroid. It grew from the last time Mario had seen it; now, it had a full insect-like shell on its back, six fangs protruding horizontally from it's mouth, six dead, white eyes, and four long, skinny, spider-like legs. Mario quickly summoned some flames to his hands as Dedede raised his hammer. When the Blood Metroid opened its mouth and let loose its high-pitched shriek, the lights turned off. The only thing lighting Mario's vision were the flames in his hand, and the slightly illuminated underside of the Metroid.

He heard Dedede swing at something, then he heard another high-pitched shriek. Mario tried to create more fire to get better lighting, but he could not. Mario launched some fire balls carelessly into the darkness, hoping that he was hitting something. Then, when he heard the sudden cracking of what sounded like skin, Dedede frantically swung and smacked Mario accidentally. He flew into the table just as Dedede, who did not seem to notice, felt his coat burn from acidic blood.

The legs of the table collapsed when Mario was flung into them; the top of the table covered his entire body except for his head. When Mario opened his eyes, he saw the lights flickering. And, because of this, he saw Dedede fight the Metroid as if it were a series of pictures; Dedede was jabbed in the foot by one of the sharp legs, and he dropped his hammer in shock. Mario witnessed the Blood Metroid sink all six of its fangs into Dedede's torso suddenly. Dedede screamed and hunched down. He tried to push the fangs out, but the Blood Metroid shot forward violently, driving Dedede against several of the shelves in the cache. Mario could not turn his head, but he could hear Dedede's cries eventually fade away. Then, after he saw the blood spill down the floor, into his vision, the Blood Metroid appeared directly in front of his face. Mario tensed up and closed his eyes, preparing for the worst.

The Blood Metroid shrieked again, following the stoppage of the flickering and the sounds of yet more skin cracking. Mario opened his eyes upon hearing the distant shrieks of the Blood Metroid again. It was gone.

He struggled to push the table off himself, and he struggled even more to get to his feet. When he was back up, he summoned more fire once again. Dedede's misfire really did a number on Mario's back and legs; it felt like he was just hit by a car. The plumber doubled over, panting harshly. He followed the blood and saw what the Blood Metroid had left in the cache; Dedede had been impaled, and his blood splattered all over the weapons. Disgruntled and regretful, Mario looked away and cussed under his breath; the sight was bad enough, but the stench is what really upset him. In the mess, Mario pulled out the _super scope_ he was looking at earlier. It probably would not kill the monster, but it would at least damage it maybe. Mario looked up, holding his side, and saw a decently-sized flamethrower that had not been touched.

* * *

Slowly, Samus hopped off the last few steps of the steel ladder. She grabbed Rosalina's hips and helped her down from it. Rosalina dusted herself off while Samus looked around. The lighting down in maintenance was similar to the cockpit; extremely dim, looking like they were under twilight. They knew the Blood Metroid was down there somewhere, but they did not know its exact; there were only four hallways down there, and one room in the center of all of them. Silently, Samus instructed Rosalina to go to the hallway to their left. Rosalina snuck down there, and Samus closely followed behind her. The hallway light above them was flickering directly above the shed skin of the Metroid. Using her pistol, Samus picked up the skin. She dropped it a few seconds later, a reaction caused by the sudden rapid footsteps in a nearby hallway.

"It's going upstairs," Rosalina said, slightly louder than a whisper, "We should be okay for a few minutes."

A few steps later, they got to a steel door. However, a giant hole had been burnt into it. They stepped through the hole, into the room. In front of a few lockers and besides a smaller one, they saw the generator, which was incredibly large, had been trashed. Besides burn marks and yellow liquid, several punctures had been made across it; it was a miracle that the emergency power supply had been completely untouched.

"Well, we can't repair it," Samus said, standing up disappointed, "That thing completely trashed it…"

"What now?" Rosalina asked.

Thinking on her feet, Samus left the room. Following closely, Rosalina watched as Samus opened a panel right beside the door; there were many buttons and knobs inside it. Samus turned the top-most knob and pressed a few buttons. She went back inside and knelt behind the generator. Rosalina again followed her, seeing a few levers. "If we can re-route the power, we can power certain areas of the ship for longer," Samus explained quietly, pulling all the levers down, "So, if we focus all of the emergency power to the cockpit—"

"It'll last much longer," Rosalina muttered, looking down at the levers.

Nodding optimistically, Samus continued, "Instead of a few hours, it should last a few days. For now, we have to make sure the emergency generator is protected."

Rosalina whispered, "How do we do that?"

Thinking, Samus looked over at the smaller generator across the room. She looked back at the broken generator, "We'll break the emergency generator a little; just enough to make the metal untouchable. If the Metroid tries to destroy it, it'll get shocked."

"Exactly," Samus said, "I'll re-route the power. Once I'm done, we'll rig it."

Both of them snuck across the room to the smaller generator. Samus opened a panel on the back of the generator, revealing a few more levers. She pulled two of them down, leaving two others in the middle up. When she pulled one of the other ones down, the room, along with the rest of maintenance, became completely dark. Rosalina, on cue, grabbed a nearby pole, and smacked the generator a few times. The sound echoed throughout the room, and Samus sprung up and stopped her from swinging again.

"Are you insane?!" Samus whispered harshly, "What the hell are you doing?!"

"I'm breaking it," Rosalina whispered back, "What do you want me to do?!"

Samus snatched the pole from Rosalina's hand. She stabbed into the generator a little, right in one of the corners, and twisted the pole to one side. Leaving it in, Samus stepped back confused. "It should be working," she said, touching it lightly, "Why isn't it…?

Suddenly, Rosalina heard something sizzling somewhere above them. She turned towards the door, but she could not see anything. However, Samus did not notice the noise; she went behind the generator and saw the problem. She grabbed one of the levers and pulled it down a little more. Now, it sparked. They heard the electricity flowing through the exterior metal of the generator.

"It's set," Samus panted in relief, "Let's go back to the cockpit. Mario and Dedede should be back with the weapons."

"Samus, do you hear that?" Rosalina asked, turning back to her, "It sounds like something's sizzling."

Samus slowed down her breathing and listened closely. It was now faint but still noticeable. After a few seconds, Samus felt something wet hit her shoulder. She looked up and saw six fangs and six white eyes, in two pairs of three, above her. A long mouth dropped down, narrowly missing Samus. Though it was dark, Samus was able to see a long, skinny face and an extremely pointed, maroon-coloured head. Interestingly, there was still a fragment in the scar between it's pair of three eyes. Samus backed up, quickly firing her pistol and the Metroid. It did not seem to affect the Blood Metroid. Instead, it lunged at her and quickly bit down at her hand. Though she pulled it away, she felt the fangs tear away something. Samus flopped onto the ground; there, she saw that it had became a Zeta Metroid.

Rosalina quickly grabbed the pistol on the ground and fired it. She hit the Blood Metroid twice, then it turned its large head towards her. As it's mouth opened, and green light began forming inside it, Rosalina shouted, "HIDE!"

Before Samus could protest, Rosalina ran out of the room, having caught the attention of the Blood Metroid. Once it was gone, Samus struggled to her feet and pressed her bleeding hand. Weakly, she opened the locker and tucked her knees to her chest. She closed the locker and leaned her hand against the back of the locker. As she heard the Metroid's cry, and thunderous footsteps, Samus looked down at her hand; her index finger was completely gone, and her middle finger had ben reduced to a little stump. Now, her breathing became rapid, and her body tensed. She became limp, and her legs extended a little more. Pressing on her wounds tightly, Samus muttered to herself, trying to talk herself down. Just as her breathing steadied, she heard a growl in the room. Samus held her breath and stayed perfectly still. Through one of the holes in the locker, she saw the glowing underside of the Blood Metroid. Her eyes widened as the Blood Metroid stopped directly in front of her locker. She heard it breath louder; it must know that she was in there. She closed her eyes and prayed. And, suddenly, the breathing and growls stopped. The second that Samus opened her eyes and allowed her body to relax, her locker flung open. Samus almost screamed, but a hand came over her mouth.

"Don't scream, don't scream," Rosalina whispered while Samus looked at her with hysteria filling her eyes, "It's me… It's okay…"

She slowly let go of Samus' mouth, and Samus gradually caught her breath, "I was able to lose it," Rosalina whispered, "It actually stopped running after me… It's guarding the ladder out of here."

Still holding her hand, Samus responded, "That's our only way out…"

Rosalina looked down at Samus' hand, seeing that her had bled all over her zero suit. "We need to get back to the cockpit as soon as possible," she said, looking back up at Samus' face; it was dangerously pale and covered in sweat.

The two of them snuck out of the room, Samus moving extremely slowly. When they got to a corner, Samus sat against the wall, trying to stay conscious. Looking around the corner, Rosalina saw the Blood Metroid faintly; it was crawling along the ceiling a few feet from the ladder. It was waiting for them. "We need to find a way to distract it," Rosalina suggested, studying the hallway.

"Good luck finding one," Samus muttered, her vision beginning to blur. She shook her head and wiped her eyes, restoring her vision slightly, "It knows that we've only got one way out of here; it's not going to waste it's time hunting us down in here."

Looking up, Samus saw a hole in the floor. And, through the hole, she saw Mario limping on the floor above them. She stood up slowly and whispered, "Mario! Down here!"

Mario looked down and saw Samus and Rosalina through a small hole in the floor. "What happened to you?" he asked, kneeling to the hole.

Sighing, Rosalina said, "Samus lost a couple fingers… We need a distraction. The Blood Metroid's cherry-picking the ladder."

"I can't do much…" Mario muttered, wincing in pain, "That thing attacked us and killed Dedede… I got messed up pretty bad, too."

"Peach's the only one left who might be able to get away from it," Rosalina said, looking back down the hallway, "She's not hurt."

"No," Mario said immediately, "I'm not letting Peach do that."

"Mario, we're trapped down here with a goddamn monster," Samus said harshly. She flopped backwards but was able to catch her balance against the wall, "I personally don't give a crap about your opinion right now. We're going to die if you don't help us."

"The only thing that the pistol's good for is pissing the Metroid off," Rosalina explained, her voice nowhere as frantic or angry as Samus', "I don't think any weapons you have will fit through that hole. We need help."

* * *

Upon hearing a knock at the door, Peach unlocked and opened it. When Mario entered, carrying a flamethrower and _super scope_ in each hand, she hugged him tightly. He winced in pain and lightly pushed her off. Mario dropped the weapons on the floor and quickly airlocked the door. As the door locked, Peach noticed that Mario was alone. Mario did not say anything, but Peach knew what had happened.

"…Was it quick at least?" Peach asked, clearly shaken.

Mario chose not to respond. Instead he slowly took a seat and leaned back, trying to relieve the pain he felt all over his body. Little Mac was able to sit up and look at the weapons that were on the ground, then he looked back at Mario. "That was all you were able to grab?" he asked, doubtfully.

"Considering Dedede's blood was all over the other weapons, yes," Mario responded, his breaths long and heavy, "I would have tried for more, but I got tossed into a table…"

"Where are Rosalina and Peach?" Peach asked, looking at the door.

"That's why I came back here," Mario responded, grimly. He rose from his seat and grabbed the flamethrower. Slowly, he walked over to Peach and handed it to her, "They're trapped in maintenance right now, and Samus was attacked by the Metroid. You're the only one who can help them right now."

"What do you mean?" Peach asked, looking down at the flamethrower.

"The Metroid's blocking the only way out," Mario told, sitting back down in pain, "Little Mac's still drained, and I… I can barely move. You don't have to kill it; just keep it occupied for a few minutes. Rosalina and Samus just need to get back here."

"Mario, what am I supposed to do?" Peach asked, becoming hostile with her tone, "How am I supposed to _keep it occupied_ without getting myself killed?!"

With his eyes, Mario motioned down to the weapon in her hand. Peach followed Mario's gaze, looking at the flamethrower skeptical and scared. "You're the only one of us who stands a chance at getting away," Mario explained regretfully, "Samus' life hangs in the balance, Peach. _You have to be brave_."


	5. 5

Fearing for her life, Peach slowly walked down the hallway. She could hear the Metroid's footsteps below her pacing back and forth. The trek down the hallway was shorter than Peach expected, and her nerves slowly took over. Her breathing quickened as her heart began racing. At the end of it, she saw a ladder that lead to the lower level of the ship. She peaked down there and saw the long face of the Blood Metroid. The sight of its grotesque fangs and multiple eyes were enough to make her feel sick; its claws, and maroon rigid skin caused her to gag. The Blood Metroid must have heard her, and it looked Peach dead in the eye.

Having caught its attention, Peach spoke up, "What are you doing down there when I'm right here, huh? Come kill me; you don't have to go that far!"

Fortunately for her, the Blood Metroid did not move, choosing to growl and shriek at her; it knew that Peach was absolutely terrified, so it was not worried in the slightest. However, Peach knew that Rosalina and Samus were still trapped down in maintenance. When the Blood Metroid began moving away from wear Peach could see it, she called out again, "Wait a second! Don't go anywhere!"

Seemingly understanding her, the Blood Metroid quickly popped back into her vision, startling Peach. It growled, bringing its head up. Peach struggled initially, but she reared the flamethrower in the air and pulled the trigger. Fire shot out of the tip of it, lighting the dark hallway with orange light briefly. The moment Peach let go of the trigger, she pointed down at the Blood Metroid. "Come out of there," Peach demanded, her adrenaline giving her voice some power, "Or else—!"

Suddenly, the Blood Metroid opened its mouth, and a green light began forming inside it. Peach jumped back as a green liquid fired out of the Metroid's mouth, splashing onto the wall behind Peach. Slowly, the liquid began to melt the wall. The Blood Metroid shrieked at Peach again, showing off the rest of the teeth that lined the inside of its mouth. It did not budge from it's position. Peach stared at it as the Blood Metroid looked down; she couldn't figure out how to distract it. As it looked down, Peach saw something sticking out of it's head. It looked like a large wooden splinter of some sort. Then, she got an idea.

Quickly, Peach reached for the splinter and grabbed it. When she jerked it upward, the Blood Metroid shrieked again. This time, however, it was one of pain, not intimidation. It seemed like an eternity, but Peach eventually pulled the splinter out of the Blood Metroid's head. It reared back and fell down into maintenance, it's blood pouring out of the wound and onto it's head. Within seconds, it jumped back up onto the same floor as Peach, surprising her. Here, Peach could see the full size of it; about eight or nine feet when standing on it's skinny hind legs. It growled and screamed viciously before lunging at Peach. Clutching the flamethrower in one hand, Peach sprinted in the other direction.

Although she never turned back, she could hear the thunderous footsteps of the Blood Metroid directly behind her. When they were at their loudest, and she heard the cry of the Blood Metroid, Peach turned around and fired at the Blood Metroid blindly. The fire provided some light in the dark hallway; it was much closer than she anticipated. The Blood Metroid covered its eyes, blinded by the heat and flames momentarily. Peach took the opportunity to run into the main hold and hide under a table. As she tried to slow down her breathing, she muttered to herself, "Calm down, calm down… You have to be brave for Samus and Rosalina… Just relax…"

Her breaths gradually became longer and deeper. She could finally breath normally. However, just as she caught her breath back, she heard the Blood Metroid enter the main hold. When she saw its tail walk by her, Peach crawled from underneath the table and stood tall. She fired the flamethrower, causing the Blood Metroid to back up. It reared back and roared but soon was forced to shield its underside by the fire.

"Come on, come one…" Peach muttered, pressing down on the trigger as hard as she could. She let go of it, due to the amount of heat coming off the barrel, for a second, causing the Blood Metroid to lung at her with it's fangs out and claws reaching, "Oh, shi—!"

The fire kept it at bay once more, causing the Blood Metroid to crouch down and ball up. It screamed in pain as Peach stepped closer to it. Suddenly, it's tail flung in front of Peach, making her flinch. The tail cut her knuckle and part of the flamethrower, Peach stepped back, feeling something seep down on her hand and dress. It must be blood from the cut, Peach thought. Then, when she pressed the trigger down, something ignited.

* * *

Rosalina occasionally checked that the Blood Metroid was still by the ladder. When she turned her attention back to Samus, she saw that Samus was looking very pale and extremely damp from sweat. In addition, her zero suit was completely filthy. "Stay with me, Samus," Rosalina whispered, kneeling in front of the bounty hunter, "Come on, stay with me."

She lightly slapped Samus on the cheek, trying to keep her eyes open. Samus hunched over, looking down at her zero suit; it was covered in blood from her, all of it from when she tried to stop the bleeding on her finger. She tried to speak, but she felt too light-headed, and no words came out of her mouth. "Samus, hey," Rosalina whispered, still slapping Samus' pale-white face, "You have to stay awake, okay? We'll get you help, we'll get your fingers patched up…"

Samus heard whatever Rosalina said, but she could not retain it. Everything blended together as her eyes became heavy. Her heard slowly tilted downwards; she could barely hold her head up. Rosalina no longer paid attention to her, instead seeing something off in the distance. Moving frantically, Rosalina ripped apart of her sleeve off and bandaged off Samus' stump and missing finger. Samus did not know how long it took, or how long they had been siting there; it felt like hours, days even, but it also felt like seconds. Right before Samus closed her eyes, Rosalina shook her violently. "Get up. Now," Rosalina ordered. As Rosalina helped Samus towards the ladder, her hearing and vision restored slowly with the thunderous stomps above them. With a violent cry of the Blood Metroid somewhere in the distance, Samus' senses came back fully.

"We have to hurry," Rosalina said, trying to push Samus up the ladder, "Come on."

Struggling, Samus pulled herself up the ladder and out of maintenance. She looked down the dark hallway, seeing some faint orange light around a corner. Turning around, Samus helped Rosalina off the ladder and onto the floor. Samus held her wounded hand as Rosalina doubled over tiredly. She straightened up and nodded at Samus. As soon as they took a step towards the cockpit, there was an explosion; the fiery blast shot around the corner, engulfing the entire hallway in flames momentarily. Samus shielded her eyes from the sudden blinding lights from the blast. When the flames went away, they heard a loud thud at the other end of the hallway. Following that, they heard a shriek.

"Oh no," Samus panted.

The footsteps again increased in speed, followed by another cry. Samus was knocked to the side by the charging Blood Metroid. While she was on the ground, she felt three claws dig into her back. Samus screamed in pain; her screams only got louder as she felt herself lift off the ground. The Blood Metroid brought her close to it's long face. From here, Samus saw that, in the explosion, the Blood Metroid's muscles had been exposed and, at it's joints, some bones poked out of it's skin. It growled at Samus, but Samus responded by spiting on it. The Blood Metroid raised its other hand, preparing to strike Samus.

Suddenly, Samus fell to the floor as the Blood Metroid cried in pain. From behind them, Rosalina had shot at some of it's exposed muscles. While she got to her feet, Samus jumped to her feet. Rosalina grabbed her hand as they began running towards the cockpit. The hallways were dark, but, as they got closer to the cockpit, the lights became more noticeable. Finally, after what seemed like ages, they were outside of the cockpit.

Samus banged onto the door and screamed, "Open the door! Open the door!"

The thunderous steps of the Blood Metroid became louder and louder. Samus leaned on the door as her knocks became weaker and her cries more desperate, "Please, for the love of God, open the door!"

The door opened quickly, and Samus collapsed onto Mario. Mario helped her into the cockpit as Rosalina followed closely behind. However, she was gone a fraction of a second later. Mario and Samus looked aside, hearing her cry out in pain; the Blood Metroid was on top of her, biting away at her torso and neck. Rosalina's screams became louder, giving Samus and Mario chills. Seeing her blood fly into the air as the Blood Metroid dug it's claws and fangs into her body made Samus' stomach drop. As the other two froze, Little Mac slammed his fist onto a button, causing the door to slam shut. Although the sounds were suppressed, they still heard Rosalina's blood-curling screams.

"Oh my god…" Mario muttered, looking away from the door.

Samus struggled over to the main console and leaned on it, trying to hold back tears. They all stood there in absolute silence, hearing only the Blood Metroid tear into Rosalina. It seemed to carry on for ages, and the screams turned into loud, violent cries for help. However, Samus knew that, to even try to help Rosalina, would be suicide. Eventually, Samus let the tears roll down her face; those screams outside the cockpit never seemed to stop. This monster was drawing this out for as long as it could. When those screams and cries slowly faded into nothing, there were three loud knocks onto the door, followed by a shriek. Samus shattered; she collapsed onto her knees in front of the main console and began to whimper helplessly into her own hands; Rosalina was dead, and it was all her fault.

"That thing… It was just eviscerating her with such ease," Little Mac muttered, as disgusted and shocked as the other two.

When Mario looked over at Samus, he saw her once blue zero suit was now a navy colour mixed with blackish-maroon. She had completely sweated through it, and the blood covering her arms, legs, and stomach made him uneasy. When he saw her hand covered in blood and missing fingers, he had to look elsewhere. "What do we do know?" Mario muttered, completely dumbfounded.

"I don't know…" Samus muttered, completely defeated, "The Blood Metroid is in it's Zeta stage now… It knows where we are, and it knows that we don't have anything in here to survive for more than a few days. The longer we wait, the stronger it gets."

"But, we don't have a choice," Little Mac contradicted, leaning his back onto the wall and crossing his arms, "How are we going to kill that thing? Our best bet was the flamethrower, and Peach ran off with it."

"She'll come back," Mario said immediately, looking out into space.

Turning to him, Little Mac stared at Mario strangely, "Didn't you hear that explosion? I'm sorry, Mario, but she's not coming back."

"Stop it before this turns into something we don't need right now," Samus spoke up as she sat down, "Listen, I can activate a self-destruct protocol from here… The only problem is that there's no power for the escape pods. I had to re-route all the power to the cockpit."

"What are you saying?" Little Mac asked.

"I told you before that, if the Blood Metroid is let loose onto a society of any kind, there will be consequences that you nor I can imagine," Samus explained. She tapped something on the main console with her unmaimed hand, then the lights on the main console turned red, "If we send out a distress signal, the Blood Metroid will kill all of us before help arrives. Then, when help arrives, a stronger Blood Metroid will have a new crew to feed on."

"We'll have to go down with the ship if we want this thing to truly die," Mario muttered, closing his eyes regretfully. He walked up to Samus, seemingly trying to come to acceptance, "Before you activate that protocol, give us one chance at killing it."

Thinking, Samus looked out into space. There was nothing expect the stars around them; absolutely nothing for a couple of lightyears at the very least. Hopeless, Samus sighed, "Okay. We can try."

Little Mac reluctantly opened the door. Samus stepped through it first, then Mario. Rosalina's body had vanished, but a trail of blood led towards the main hold. Samus knelt down and felt it between her fingers; it was still fresh. She stood back up as Mario handed the _super scope_ to Little Mac. Mario summoned his fire, giving the three some light in the dark hallway. Because of the light, Samus saw her pistol on the ground. She picked it up and held it in her hands, testing her aim. However, her shooting hand was too weak to hold it properly now.

"It's trying to bait us," Little Mac said, looking down the hallway, "We shouldn't walk right into its arms…"

"Why not?" Mario asked, looking straight ahead, "It's right there. Let's go kill it."

They walked slowly as if to calculate each step they took. Eventually, the trail of blood led them to the main hold, where they saw Marth's sword and Dedede's hammer placed as a cross. On top of the cross was Rosalina's grey crown and parts of the blue fabric of her dress.

"It's taunting us," Samus said, tightening the grip on her pistol.

Mario's fire allowed them to see parts of the partially lit main hold. It had been dark before, but the burn marks explosion made the room much darker. Then, they spotted Peach's body; her dress was burnt off, and her skin was covered in ash. The flamethrower in her hands was completely blackened by the explosion, and the barrel had splintered and melted. Mario extinguished his flames and fell to his knees, trying to resuscitate Peach desperately. Samus looked around the room, as did Little Mac. Little Mac looked closely at the ceiling after seeing a shadow. There, on the ceiling directly above them, were six white eyes.


	6. 6

"Guys…" Little Mac muttered, still looking up at the Metroid above. The mere sight of it's dead white eyes and maroon fang paralyzed him in place, taking his ability to speak any louder. Nobody else heard him; Samus and Mario were too focused on Peach. As Mario put his mouth over Peach's, Samus cussed under her breath. When she saw a darkened tail in front of her, she turned around and saw Little Mac, who was still staring straight up. Without another word, Samus tackled Little Mac just as the Blood Metroid dropped down from the ceiling.

The thunderous slam onto the floor took Little Mac out of his stasis, and it caught the attention of Mario. As Mario was knocked to the side by the heavy tail of the Blood Metroid, Samus jumped up to her feet and shot at the Blood Metroid. The first few shots clearly hurt the beast, but it shook off the next couple and stood as tall as it could. Samus lowered her gun and braced herself; by shielding her face with her arm, she was able to protect herself from the Blood Metroid's claws. However, they still cut extremely deep into her arm. Samus ducked under the next swing of the Blood Metroid, rolling underneath and emerging behind it. Though it was nearly pitch-back inside the room, Samus could see Marth's sword and Dedede's hammer. As she tried to pick on of them up, the Blood Metroid's tail took out one of her legs. Samus slammed onto her back hard, struggling to rise to her feet from the impact.

Though she protected her face from the claws of the Blood Metroid, her arm was mangled, and her pistol had been cut in half. Three of the claws had cut deep into her arm, tearing away part of her Zero Suit and her skin. So much blood began rushing to that arm that it felt like it was on fire. Flopping onto her side, Samus tried to cover it as much as possible, hoping to prevent mass blood loss. Leaning down onto her bleeding arm, Samus crawled along the floor towards the two weapons. However, when she reached it, Marth's sword was already gone. Suddenly, red flames illuminated the dark room. It was Mario; he was trying his hardest to use his fire against the beast. Though it worked momentarily—much like Samus' pistol—the Blood Metroid simply stopped being affected by it in a matter of seconds. Despite this, Mario kept unleashing everything he had. And, when he was spent and fell to his knees, the Blood Metroid charged.

Quickly, Samus jumped to her feet with Dedede's hammer in both her hands. She jumped towards the Blood Metroid and pounded it in the back as hard as she could. The Blood Metroid crashed into the ground, and Samus' momentum carried her beyond the beast. She landed next to Mario, who helped her to her feet. When the Blood Metroid rose to its feet, Samus saw the anger and bloodlust in it's many eyes. She felt like running back to the safety of the cockpit, but something convinced her to stay. No matter what decision she made, the Blood Metroid had to die; it was just a question of whether _she_ was going to.

As the Blood Metroid reared back and shrieked loudly, Samus saw Little Mac appear behind it with Marth's sword. Before she or Mario could say anything, Little Mac stabbed the Blood Metroid in the back. The blade did not pierce very far, however; he had tried to stab it into it's shoulder, but it's skin had not been weakened enough there. The Blood Metroid tripped Little Mac with it's tail and quickly spun around, making Samus and Mario dive out of the way of it's tail. The Blood Metroid picked Little Mac up with both its sharp, scaly hands and dug into his sides. Screaming in pain, Little Mac desperately punched the beast square in the jaw, making it let go. For a split second, he felt safe. Then, however, he felt it's sharp fangs dig into his trap. Again, he screamed, feeling his feet leave the ground.

Frozen in place, Samus watched as the Blood Metroid lifted Little Mac up with it's fang biting deep into his trap. Because it grabbed him from behind, he had nothing to punch at; when he landed an elbow to the Blood Metroid's head, it responded by grabbing his arm and pulling on it. When she heard Little Mac's scream louder, Samus yelled, "Give me some light, Mario!"

Panting, Mario summoned fire and tried to hit the Blood Metroid. However, he could not see much; his light only stayed aflame for a second, maybe less, at a time. With every flash, they saw Little Mac's mouth open wider, his eyes squint harder, and his body become bloodier. At the peak of Little Mac's screaming, Mario panted, "I can't… I can't get enough energy into the flames…"

"You don't really have a choice right now!" Samus shouted, trying to make out a good area to strike with the hammer. Finally, after what seemed like ages, Mario summoned enough fire to light everything around Samus. Unfortunately, Little Mac's screams had stopped, and Marth's blade was through his chest. Directly behind him was Peach, standing in horror with her hands wrapped around the handle of the sword.

* * *

After the explosion had knocked her out, Peach drifted in and out of states of consciousness. The room around her smelt like smoke and looked incredibly dark; it was a different kind of darkness, one that inspires an overwhelming sense of anxiety and dread, that engulphed her. For the seconds, or minute, where her eyes were opened, she could not move a muscle. Initially, she had no feeling whatsoever anywhere in her body, but then it progressed into more of a feeling of sleep-paralysis; she knew that she could get up and move around, but for whatever reason, she could not. During one of her moments of consciousness, she saw six dead-white eyes above her, staring down at her. However, it just stayed there, continuing to look at her instead of jumping down at ending her. Peach was confused by the Blood Metroid's behaviour. Then, when she heard Mario, Samus, and Little Mac approaching the main hold, she knew exactly what it had planned. At that moment, her mind blanked out, and she drifted off.

When she felt Mario's mouth on her own, she was conscious again but unable to open her eyes or communicate in any other way. She heard Little Mac mutter something then a loud slamming noise; the Blood Metroid had lured them away from the cockpit and ambushed them in the main hold. She felt the heat from Mario's fire and heard Samus' grunts in pain. It was not until she heard something land next to her when she could fully move again.

The sounds of Marth's blade smacking against the ground next to her gave her a sudden spike of adrenaline. She lifted her head from the ground and saw Little Mac get bitten. When he started to scream, her eyes shifted back down to the sword. Samus shouted something inaudible, and an orange flashing light soon gave Peach sight. This was her chance to finish what she started with the flamethrower, her chance at ending this horrid nightmare once and for all; and, all it would take was one expertly aimed stab in the chest of the Blood Metroid. Peach waited patiently in the shadows for that opportunity. Little Mac's screams and Samus' pleads to Mario became background noise to her. Then, she took her chance and thrusted the blade forward into the darkness.

Everything stopped, including the background noises. It was only a few seconds later that she realized what she had done. The blood that seeped down her arm was warm, but it did not burn; as soon as Mario's fire lit the room, she scarcely saw what she had done. Marth's sword was directly through Little Mac's chest. Peach dropped the sword, but, in her shock, she did not scream. Peach simply backed away, collapsing to her knees against the wall. The Blood Metroid shook Little Mac's body off it, approaching Peach slowly. As soon as it took a step towards Peach, Mario flung a fireball at it. The monster turned and ran towards Mario, who began running away.

"Mario!" Peach shouted, trying to get to her feet. However, she stumbled back down to the ground, clearly in pain. Quickly, Samus helped Peach to her feet and held her arm.

"We need to get out of here," Samus panted, guiding her back towards. As they ran through the hallway, they heard the Blood Metroid shrieking below them; Mario was down in maintenance, either distracting the monster, or meeting a more gruesome fate…

Right as Samus opened the cockpit's door, Peach dropped to her knees inside it. Now, she was able to see that her entire body was covered in ash. It was a miracle that she survived the explosion. Samus closed the door, holding Marth's sword tightly in her hand.

"If I don't make it back here in twenty minutes, set the ship to self-destruct," Samus told Peach, calming her own breathing.

* * *

As soon as she climbed down the ladder, Samus heard the Blood Metroid shriek again. She readied the blade in her hands, walking slowly down the dark hallway. Besides the flickering of the lights above her, nothing down there gave her any steady light. Samus made sure each of her steps were quiet enough not to alert the monster of her presence. As soon as she reached a corner, she heard Mario shout in pain. Peaking around it, Samus saw that the Blood Metroid had pinned Mario against the wall with its tail. Standing on its hind legs, the Blood Metroid was restraining Mario's arms with one of its own, while the other poked and scratched him; clearly, it was just trying to torture him before it finished him.

Samus snuck behind it with the sword ready. As soon as she got behind it, the Blood Metroid's tail swung wildly, slicing Samus in the stomach. Taken by surprise, Samus fell to a knee, holding her wound with one of hands. She looked up, seeing Mario on the ground in front of the monster; though his head was down, Samus still saw him breathing. When the Blood Metroid turned around to face Samus, she saw that its skin looked thoroughly burned. Mario had done a great job in making sure the skin was tender. For the first time, seemingly all not, Samus smirked as the Blood Metroid let out its cry for blood. When it swung its tail at Samus again, she tried to swing at it with Marth's sword. She had pierced it, though not all the way through.

The yellow blood flew out of the tail as the Blood Metroid screamed. Samus shielded her face from it as well as she could, but it burned her arm deeply. However, Samus was completely unfazed now; she knew that she had to kill the Blood Metroid, and now was her chance. She jumped up, readying to plunge the blade forward.

Right as she was at the peak of her jump, being eye-to-eye with the Blood Metroid, she heard Mario scream her name. But it was too late; Samus felt three of the Blood Metroid's claws stab into her side. She stopped midair, her eyes widening in shock. As the monster shrieked again, this time giving Samus a face-full of its saliva, Samus grunted, desperately shouting, "Why won't you just die already!?"

As the Blood Metroid raised Samus, preparing to finish her by taking a chunk out of her shoulder, Samus saw the gash between its white eyes. Reminding her about one of her earlier encounters, Samus quickly gripped the sword with both hands. When she was in range, Samus raised the blade and stabbed down as hard as she could. The sword stabbed deep into the gash, through the Blood Metroid's mouth. The monster let out another cry, however this one seemed to be in pain. Acting quickly, Samus took the blade out and thrusted the sword forward, stabbing the Blood Metroid through the head. As the Blood Metroid reared back, Samus felt the claws retract. She fell to the ground, landing hard on her back. She stayed on the ground, seeing the Blood Metroid stagger around, trying to get the blade out of his head. However, it was to no avail; its blood spilt out of the wounds inflicted by Samus quickly. Eventually, the Blood Metroid fell to the ground, its limbs twitching.

Struggling to her feet, Samus limped towards the Blood Metroid. She saw that the Blood Metroid's eyes were no longer white; they were not even visible anymore, as it's face was covered in drying yellow liquid. It was finally dead. Samus took a sigh in relief before turning to Mario, who was still slumped down with his head down. When she got closer to him, Samus saw how bad his wounds actually were; deep gashes were along his body and face.

"You did it…" Mario said, breathing heavily, "You actually did it… So much for a perfect organism, huh?"

"We'll get you patched up," Samus promised, trying to get Mario on his feet. However, he stopped her by snapping his fingers. When Mario's fire lit the corner he was in, Samus saw how much blood Mario lost from his wounds.

"There's no point," Mario panted, slowly becoming short of breath, "Just tell Peach… Tell her that she was brave, okay? Tell her that she did well…"

"You can tell her yourself," Samus said, shrugging off any emotions coming over her. However, it did not work; her eyes began watering, "Come on. You'll be okay."

"Samus, tell me…" Mario said, his body relaxing on the ground, "Tell her that I love her, okay…? I…"

When Mario stopped talking, his head resting on the wall, Samus knew it was over. Slowly, she walked towards the ladder. Though the Blood Metroid was dead, and she was relieved because of it, she could not shake the terrible feeling brewing inside her. She finally climbed back up the ladder. Samus looked down towards the closed door of the cockpit; she knew that the walk back to the cockpit would be the most dreadful of this trip, even after everything she went through.

Every step she took clouded her mind with the past few hours events; her entire crew was brutally killed by a Blood Metroid, a monster that she careless let on board. It all started with Marth, then Dedede, Rosalina, Little Mac, and Mario. Both she and Peach were on death's door too, but they were the only survivors. Now, they would have to get rid of the bodies; Samus would not risk contamination again. As badly as she wanted to get the bodies back home, for a proper burial, Samus could not take another risk again.

Samus slowly knocked on the door to the cockpit. "Peach, open the door…" Samus panted, wiping her head with her good hand, "It's over…"

A few seconds later, the cockpit's door opened. Peach was there, smiling in relief. Samus collapsed onto her, completely exhausted. Though initially surprised, Peach recovered and helped Samus onto a chair. As Samus relaxed, and the cockpit's door closed, Peach walked over and sat across from her. The smile on her face had vanished, just as Samus tried to relax.

"…I noticed you came back alone," Peach muttered, looking down at the ground.

Samus sat up as fast as he could, though it was still extremely slow. Before she could say anything, Peach began to silently weep. Samus sighed, unable to get up from the chair, "He told me to tell you that he's proud of you; you were brave. Because of you, we were able to kill that monster."

"That's it, huh?" Peach said, trying to get a grip on herself, "That's the end of him?"

"He wanted you to know that he loves you," Samus told, "Those were his last words…"

Now, Peach's cries became more audible; she sat in her chair, bawling into her hands. Samus forced herself to her feet to comfort Peach. She limped over to Peach, placing a hand on her shoulder. Reacting, Peach stood up and hugged Samus, crying loudly on her shoulder.


	7. 7

After finishing a cold shower, Samus dried her hair; it had been a week since they sent the bodies away via escape pod, making sure to separate the bodies of her crew and the body of the Blood Metroid. Unfortunately, her gunship would always bare the scars of the attack: the living quarters would forever be destroyed; the main hold would always be burnt to a crisp; the various hallways would always have holes in them from the acidic blood; and maintenance would never be repaired.

After her zero suit was sliced and cut from the attack, she never wore it again. Instead, she wore a light green coat with a maroon shirt underneath and grey pants, an outfit she often wore when she was younger. While she changed, she noticed that all her wounds had become scars already. Before she finished changing, she ran her finger along the large scar that covered the length of her stomach.

When she entered the cockpit, she saw Peach sleeping in a chair next to her own. Like Samus, Peach's wounds had scarred over; most noticeably, there was a burn scare that covered her left arm and left leg. In addition, she had cut off most of her hair, as much of it had been burnt to a crisp. Samus left the cockpit door open as she sat down in her chair. Taking a breath, she said, "Adam, dim the lights. Open my logbook."

* * *

 _Captain's Log, Day 26_

 _It's been nine days since my last update. Since then, I had discovered a new kind of Metroid on PM-18C. The Federation test facility nicknamed it a Blood Metroid. We were attacked by one on that planet, and we neutralized it._

 _After we left, I discovered that one of the Blood Metroids left behind infiltrated my gunship. In the hours that followed the discover, it matured into the Zeta stage of its development. The Blood Metroid tore through my crew, killing all but two: myself and Princess Peach._

 _I wanted to take the bodies back home with me, but I could not risk it. Marth, King Dedede, Rosalina, Little Mac, and Mario died because of me. I will have to live with that for the rest of my life. I myself have been physically maimed and scarred, not to mention any psychological damage done. However, losing my fingers is nothing compared to what happened to the rest of my crew; if we do not make it back, I want the record to show that I am sorry._

 _The bodies of my crew, as well as the body of the neutralized Metroid, have been left behind in space due to fear of contamination._

 _Food and water on board will only last Princess Peach and I two more weeks at most. Our power supply may only last us three more days. I have sent out a distress signal, but I doubt that any help will come. My navigation system has been down for several days, so I can only hope we're drifting in the direction of any life._

 _At least neither of us have to keep looking our shoulder anymore; there is no more direct threat to our lives. I have assured Princess Peach that she has nothing to fear anymore. There is a sense of peace and tranquility on board now. We can relax, or at least pretend to be._

 _This will be my final log before our power shuts down. We simply do not have enough power to write another._

 _This is Samus Aran, one of two survivors of the Blood Metroid attack, signing off._

* * *

"Adam, close my logbook and shut down; I need you to be around for as long as you can," Samus said. Her console responded, shutting down all but a few lights in front of the windscreen.

As she stared at the vastness of space in front of her, Samus' eyes became heavy. She sighed and kicked her feet up, closing her eyes. All she and Peach could do now was wait; they may run into life, either a space station or a planet. If they did not soon, they would have to keep waiting. For now, Samus thought, she could catch up on some sleep…


End file.
